Web 2.0 Applications

My Experience Using Gloster So Far...

I have to be honest that I never, ever heard of Glogster before today. Is signed up and created a document for one of my IED assignments using Glogster (see above image.) I only have the free Glogster account so I can only speak to the tools available in this version. Glogster is a very simple way for students of all digital aptitudes to put together a fine looking digital poster.

I have a lot of experience using digital editing software from Adobe Photoshop to Illustrator so I found Glogster to be frustrating. I could not do some of the things that I wanted to do like: mirror an image, make an image an exact size and I was very frustrated with the text editor above all. I do believe that if I didn't have the editing software background I might have had no complaints. Other than that I like the ease of uploading an image to the site for use, although I would use another photo editing software to crop the images before I upload them to the site.

I can see my students easily using this tool to make some great looking project posters. I can even see myself using this to jazz up some of my handouts and possibly making a move towards a paperless class. Well, perhaps that last part is me getting a little ahead of myself but it's worth a try.

My Experience Using Delicious So Far...

There are a plethora of social networking sites out there and I have just been introduce to a new one, Delicious. It's not a social network in that you share what you had for breakfast or funny photos of your cat. Delicious is more of collaborative tool  to help you organize and share your internet bookmarks across multiple platforms as well as across multiple devices. I can definitely see myself encouraging my students to use this site to when they do research in teams. As part of the research process they have to keep track of the sites they visit as they work towards having a complete works sited page. Though it's a bookmarking site it also has a social network aspect to it where you can follow others and see what they have bookmarked as well. I can see how you could build a network of educators or even students to share the interesting things they find online.

It was very easy to create an account as you can log in using your Facebook or Twitter log in information. Once I added the "add to delicious" button to my toolbar I could easily browse the web and bookmark any article or webpage that I found interesting. It is so easy it's not even funny. I do believe that the most powerful tool this site has to offer is the ability to search others' bookmarks by topic. Just like you can search for information using Google to search the entire internet well you can search for information the same way withing Delicious. I can definitely see myself and my class being more productive by using this site appropriately.

So for those of you that are interested here is my delicious URL.

My Experience Using Google Drive So Far...

I have been a huge fan of Google Drive (previously know as Google Docs) ever since I switched from a Hotmail email account to a Gmail email account in 2011. Prior to jumping on the Google Drive bandwagon I was a big fan of Open Office which is a free open source suite of programs very similar to Microsoft Office. Open Office worked well for me but the ease of using Google Drive along with having accessibility to your files form anywhere in the world, auto save, and file sharing capabilities, that in my mind is what put Google Drive over Open Office. I can easily get carried away talking about how Google Drive seamlessly works with other Google products such as: Gmail, Google+, Hangouts, and Google Cloud Print but I will refrain from doing so and solely focus on my experience with Google Drive. Oh, by the way, in my mind the icing on the cake is having access to my Google Drive files on my smartphone.

If you know how to use any type of Microsoft Office product you can use any Google Drive file type such as: Documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Forms and Drawings. The only downside to Google Drive that I can currently find is that it has a limited amount of font styles so if that is an issue for you then perhaps you should consider MS Office.

When it comes to using Google Drive in the classroom I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you have students that work in teams or collaborate with others in any way, shape or form you need to have them use Google Drive. The main reason is that all students can work on any file type simultaneously. If they share the files or folders with each other there will never be an issue with anyone not having their work for class. I like to share this document with other PLTW teachers in my school so that as the end of the year approaches we get all get our "grocery" list of supplies ready for next semester.

Bottom line, if you want your students to collaborate together on any type of project I would highly recommend using Google Drive over all other products. To me it's the ultimate productivity app and simply the best deal for the money.

I have created a document file and shared it here so you can see how easy it is to share documents.

My Experience Using Feedly So Far...

Growing up I did not particularly like to read. To me it was boring, and I think that my school reading assignments went a long way to drive my love of reading deep withing the bowels of my heart. It was not until I began graduate school that my passion for reading resurfaced. Of all the types of things I could read I found that I truly enjoyed reading newspapers the most. So you can see how difficult it was for me to make the change from a printed format to digital format of reading. I went kicking and screaming all the way to the feet of digital newspapers mostly because getting the newspaper was an expense that I could do without. Well shortly after I made the switch I found a new form of technology for that time called RSS Feeds. I could follow a countless number of interest and have access to them all from one page. It truly felt like I was creating my very own personal newspaper which fit me like a glove. I just couldn't get enough and by far my favorite RSS Reader was Google Reader. Through the years I accumulated a long list of RSS feeds that I read on a regular basis and I would be hard to go back and reconstruct that list from scratch if I had to. Well if you have been following Google news lately, earlier this year Google decided to end support for Google Reader, and I found myself looking for a comparable alternative. After doing some research I can honestly say that you don't have to look any further than Feedly. They made the transfer of my RSS Feeds seamlessly with the push of a button. Today, Monday, July 1st was the last day that Google would support it's Reader but I had already transferred all my data to Feedly and I didn't miss a beat. By far Feedly has a better design in both the desktop version as well as the mobile version and I really enjoy the magazine style view that I can use on my smartphone. I know that Feedy is not a comparable alternative to some Google Reader power users such as journalist, and writers, but for me it does the trick.

My Experience Using Wikis So Far...
I created a wiki for my Engineering Design and Development class next year, see link here. It was very easy to set up and I managed to change some of the account settings but until I add members a.k.a students, I will not be able to do much. Thanks to this wiki I'm already itching to get the new school year started.

My Experience Using Padlet So Far...
Padlet used to be called Wallwisher and I am going to use this site very often to help my students brainstorm their ideas in a creative, digital format. If you read one of my earlier post titled, "Deep Dive and IDEO," and if you watched the full length Deep Dive video you will remember that the designers of IDEO used sticky notes to comment and vote on different designs. This was a way for the group to come to a consensus on which was the best idea. Well, if we did that in our class room my supplies budget would shoot through the roof with the large use of Post-It Notes being used. So this is an excellent alternative to the physical use of sticky notes. I'm glad that I found this site. It is very easy to set up an account and the tools are simple to use. You can customize your wall using set templates and design which I know the students will enjoy the customization aspect of Padlet walls.

If you would like to take a look at a quick brainstorming Padlet that I set up you can find the link here.

My Experience Using Animoto So Far...
My experience creating a digital story was by far the easiest out of all my Web 2.0 experiences. I uploaded photos with ease from my desktop and from other photo sharing applications such as: Instagram, Picassa, Flickr, Facebook, etc. I add captions to each photo, I picked a layout and viola! I had a high definition rendered 30 second video clip with music and all. It literally took me 10 minutes from start to finish. The only drawback is that if you want to do longer full length videos you have to upgrade to a paid account. I can see my students using Animoto to document their projects process and posting it to their very own blogs. Take a look at the digital story that I made of titled, "My First Year at AHS."

Make your own slide show at Animoto.

My Experience Posting To Other Blogs So Far...
I have to be honest that creating a blog has been a delightful experience and with the tools available to teachers today I fully expect for more teachers to begin to use blogs in their classrooms. In the mean time I've posted a few comments to some interesting blogs that I've found, see links below. Posting to blogs has been easy and I can clearly see how reading and writing blogs can intensify the discussion that are going on in the classroom today.

1. Roberto Diaz - http://archstudio1.blogspot.com/
2. Stephanie Salinas - http://wampuscatmusic.blogspot.com/
3. Donna Passamano - http://donnapassamano.blogspot.com/

If you have time I would recommend that you follow these blogs. I know that I will.